[unreadable] The purpose of this supplemental request is to provide additional resources that will expedite the goals of the SC COBRE for Cardiovascular Disease to establish and promote research in cardiovascular science at both medical schools in South Carolina. These goals are to build research infrastructure through: (1) Mentoring and career development of highly promising junior investigators, leading to successful acquisitions and maintenance of competitive grants; (2) Development and effective management of sophisticated technology cores to extend research capacity; and (3) Recruitment of new faculty with critical expertise to promote collaboration and foster future programmatic development. To facilitate these goals, we propose to use supplemental funds to enhance the most heavily utilized of our COBRE core facilities, the Morphology and Imaging Core (Core C). To build upon the success of this core, we propose three specific aims: (1) Establish a dedicated, centralized facility for histology and 3-D reconstruction; (2) Add physiological imaging capabilities by converting an existing confocal microscope to an inverted configuration; (3) Develop real-time dynamic imaging capabilities with new equipment. Aim 1 addresses a deficiency, as the lack of centralized, shared facilities for standard and special histology represents a critical bottleneck for the COBRE investigators. Aims 2 and 3 will enhance the research competitiveness of COBRE investigators and other research faculty at MUSC and USC by incorporating new capabilities for sophisticated levels of live-cell imaging and dynamic analysis of cellular processes. The benefits of the proposed core enhancement will have a statewide impact, extending significantly beyond the scope of the COBRE itself. [unreadable] [unreadable]